Tale Of The Half-Blood Wizard

Few seconds had passed, I heard a knocking sound, and I understood that it meant he had come. I quickly looked back and sure enough, Zie was already here. I didn't take Mickey with me today in purpose so he could keep an eye on Mirai and Winnter.

"Have you been waiting for me for so long?" I shook my head. I actually felt so happy every time I could meet him.

"I just came," I said.

Charon immediately grabbed his oar and he prepared to leave. "My duty to accompany is finished, I'll see myself leave." He said his goodbye, then immediately rowed his boat away.

Zie sat beside me then I looked at my watch on my wrist and it wasn't even two o'clock. "How was your day, Tha?" He asked while he was handing me a sandwich.

I reached out my hands to take the sandwich then I said to him. "Thank you. I can't wait to meet Vio." I recalled the incident back then when I saw Winnter with the creature. "There are so many questions that I want to ask until I'm confused which one I should ask first."

Zie's laughter echoed for a moment, it seemed that he was laughing at my words. "Okay, okay, be patient. We'll meet Vio in the next one hour and forty-five minutes. You know it for yourself Vio's such a punctual person so we should also come on time." I nodded in agreement. I also thought that Vio might be surprised if we came there earlier than the appointed time.

…

Vio invited us to sit on the dining table's chair in the kitchen. The chair that I was sitting on swayed slightly; it seemed that the chair's legs were broken. Vio served us a bowl of clear soup with a few pieces of seaweed, as well as a cup of tea for each of us. Vio asked us to have some meal first before I could ever ask about all the questions that cramped inside my head.

The taste of that soup wasn't that bad even if there was only some taste of slightly salty or rather plain, so bland and almost tasteless actually with only bits of raw seaweed, nevertheless, Vio's tea still tasted the most delicious and the serving now appeared better than yesterday.

"I was taught not to mix the leaves until it looked like how it appeared yesterday, I have them filtered now." Vio said happily. It seemed that Vio finally figured out how to make tea. "I made that soup too; I just learned how to make it this morning." Vio smiled innocently and looked so glad that we were here voluntarily to be the kitchen lab rat for food testing.

I just didn't know what to say. 'I just want to hit Vio!' My thought grimaced yet still tried and I managed to eat the food that Vio served to appreciate the effort at the very least.

Then after we finished eating, Vio took the dirty bowls that we just used to eat and put it away in the sink that was full of another dirty bowl, plates, other cooking and eating utensils.

"Tha, concerning the matter that you've told me yesterday, regarding the creatures that steal human organs, I really don't know if there are such seekers. My explanation remains unchanged; it's just the same as yesterday. Try to put it this way; if you can just buy a clothes whole shirt, why bother to steal it in pieces?!" Vio said it straight without even bother to sugar coating anything or at least stated it in such way that it sounded less intimidating because Vio knew it already about the reason behind our arrival.

"Then what is it actually?" I asked, I was so confused; Zie seemed to be just as confused as I was.

"I don't think that the creature is looking for bodies, there's must be a reason behind why the creature steals human's organs." Vio said. "Do you know about the background of the people that the creature has killed?" I never thought about it that far.

"I don't think I know something about the background of the people that the creature has killed, I haven't tried to figure it out that far." I felt so stupid and ashamed of myself after I realized it.

"Maybe you should." Zie suggested.

"I advice you not to get yourself too close to that creature. They're not kind of common seekers that we used to know, kind that still have the ability to think instead of mere instinct. We know nothing about this yet, better keep yourself on guard as it's always better be prepared than dead. Mark my words, you've been warned." Vio warned me. "I found you a book." Vio said it while he was handing me a book that appeared completely worn-out.

I accepted the book as I was listening to Vio's further explanation concerning the matter of the creature. "This book will guide you to understand it better concerning the matter around the seekers and who they really are. Let me tell you once again that once they took certain shape and appearance, they're rarely take another shape and appearance actually. You will be able to recognize that it's them and distinguish it from other creatures quite easily."

That seemed to be true, considering the fact that even though Manji as the shape shifter had done their shape shifting ability way too often and Zent had the ability to control the body to be bioluminescent as easy as switching on and switching off on the lamp switch, they were always had one fixed form; mist and dirt. Nevertheless, the creature had organs that could grow. I began to thinking about it, about the one that cycled with me back then that night might not be Mirien, but the creature.

Vio took us to a room then showed us how the seekers made their shape and appearance. Those who wanted to mingle and blend with human would have to choose certain vessels that could be considered normal and acceptable such as the shape and appearance of animal, even human themselves. Whereas for the group of wild seekers—like the Manji—such shape and appearance or such vessels wouldn't be necessarily matter as they simply took the shape and appearance of the various objects that were already existed and it was an inseparable part of our daily life such as rocks, trees, and many other things in the surrounding.

"Well, unfortunately the form in such shape and appearance won't last long. Eventually it will reach one time when it will be damaged and so it must be replaced," Vio said while arranging the antlers of the deer on a certain material that seemed about to be made as its skin.

"Have you ever thought about taking a body?" I saw a sack of animal fur in the corner of the room; to be honest this made me felt quite interested.

"I did it sometime for certain animals, especially the small ones like squirrels and mice. As for the bigger ones, I made them myself." Vio explained, and then led us to another room. So many spiders were moving around to attach the fur to the same material with the one that Vio just attached deer antlers earlier. "I have about ten thousand spiders ready to help me."

It was so amazing, so mesmerizing, I was so astonished that I was left speechless and just couldn't say anything when I saw the scene before my eyes. They seemed to be so familiar with humans. All kinds of spiders here were weaving their skins and they weren't bothered by my arrival. "This is so cool!" I shouted enthusiastically.

Vio seemed so proud when I gave the compliment. "Tha, I'll advice you once again, just stay away from that creature. I think the creature will come after you." Vio stated it seriously.

I was thinking about Vio's suggestion carefully and really put it into my consideration, yet I was also thinking that "If the reason behind Aras' presence is that creature, I think it will be difficult for me to fulfill your wish. It must be sent home or worse thing could happen. Half of the search team was fallen as victim already. Our duty is to sent it home, and in order to send it home, the creature must gone and it seemed that we have to get rid of that creature."

"And do you think you have enough strength to do such thing? You seem to forget basic thing like you don't even know what this creature is yet, how can you even deal with it." Well what Vio had said was totally right yet Vio seemed to forget it as well that I wasn't kind of person that gave up that easily, especially without even trying. 

"That's exactly why we need to know all about it." I said it full of confidence.. "We need to know its purpose of killing, its strengths, and weaknesses, and the most important thing is that we have to figure out what is the reason behind its arrival here."